be the fibre

We Make Hope (WMH) col­lec­ts dis­car­ded texti­les thro­ugh con­ta­iners in muni­ci­pa­li­ti­es and

Thro­ugh local col­lec­ti­on points at reta­il cha­ins and con­cept sto­res inclu­ding Yuman Cir­cu­lar Vil­la­ge (Bru­ssels), Moose in the City (Antwerp), Super­go­ods (Ghent) and Har­vest (Leuven). The col­lec­ted clot­hes are sor­ted by soci­al enter­pri­ses in Flan­ders, with tho­se still in good con­di­ti­on being sold at the We Make Hope flag­ship sto­re in Boec­ho­ut.

By gro­uping the pro­duc­ti­on pro­cess as much as possi­ble in Tan­gi­er, Moroc­co, and also obta­ining the leat­her rem­nants local­ly, be the fibre is able to redu­ce CO2 emi­ssi­ons. Howe­ver, the­ir ulti­ma­te dre­am is to buy and ins­tall a fiber mac­hi­ne in Bel­gi­um to make the­ir cha­in even shorter.

All pro­ce­eds of be the fibre go to beauti­ful deve­lop­ment pro­jec­ts. By cho­osing be the fibre, you cho­ose huma­nity and our pla­net. Dis­co­ver the­ir pro­duc­ts in the We Make Hope flag­ship sto­re in Boec­ho­ut and its webshop.

The old col­lec­ted clot­hing, which are no lon­ger fit to wear, is manu­al­ly sor­ted by colo­ur in Moroc­co after which it is fibe­ri­zed and tur­ned into a new fabric. A fabric can be recy­cled a maxi­mum of four times. After that the fiber is too small to make it into a new fabric, but the smal­ler fibers can be fel­ted. be the fibre fel­ts the resi­du­al fabrics into coas­ters, which com­pa­ni­es can have per­so­na­li­zed with the­ir own logo. Pro­duc­ts like umbrel­las or bicy­cle bags can also be per­so­na­li­zed by be the fibre for your employees. 

For the bath towels, be the fibre wor­ks with the orga­ni­za­ti­on Seatowel. They work with a network of fisher­men who col­lect plas­tic from the sea whi­le fishing. The fished plas­tic is remel­ted and spun into yarn and toget­her with recy­cled cot­ton for­ms beauti­ful towels. A por­ti­on of the pro­fits of the­se towels goes to ​‘The Oce­an Cleanup’.

The be the fibre bicy­cle bags are ethi­cal­ly and envi­ron­men­tal­ly made in Cam­bo­dia from cement and cat­tle feed sac­ks. The two wor­k­shops and the small bicy­cle bag fac­tory are recog­ni­zed by the Wor­ld Fair Tra­de Orga­ni­za­ti­on. The fac­tory employs 40 women who work under fair conditions.

When col­lec­ting dona­ted clot­hes, the orga­ni­sa­ti­on enco­un­te­red a pro­blem: a lar­ge amo­unt of the clot­hes depo­si­ted in the con­ta­iners are no lon­ger weara­ble. As a result, the­se gar­ments often do not get a new use, but end up as was­te.
WMH star­ted looking for exter­nal part­ners to pro­cess the­se texti­le was­te stre­ams in order to evol­ve from a line­ar ope­ra­ti­on to a cir­cu­lar one. The high-quality col­lec­ted clot­hing is still sold in the second-hand cir­cu­it, but the rema­in­der is now fibe­ri­zed and pro­ce­ssed into new items, han­d­bags and acce­sso­ri­es. All pro­ce­eds from the col­lec­ted texti­les still go to deve­lop­ment aid and non-pro­fit orga­ni­sa­ti­ons worldwide. 

be the fibre has a short sup­ply cha­in. This is beca­use the old clot­hes are col­lec­ted in Bel­gi­um and then sor­ted and pro­ce­ssed into new fabrics in Moroc­co. The pro­duc­ti­on of the bags and acce­sso­ri­es them­sel­ves takes pla­ce in a soci­al enter­pri­se in Flanders.

All mate­ri­als in be the fibre desig­ns are recy­cled. This way, no ani­mals are direc­tly invol­ved in the pro­duc­ti­on pro­cess, alt­ho­ugh it could be that the items con­ta­in recy­cled ani­mal materials.

be the fibre will take its first steps towar­ds reta­ilers in ear­ly 2021 and also sell the pro­duc­ts in the­ir own WMH sto­re in Boec­ho­ut. On requ­est, be the fibre also makes per­so­na­li­zed, sus­ta­ina­ble busi­ness gif­ts for com­pa­ni­es. In the­ir assort­ment you can find dif­fe­rent bags inclu­ding bac­k­pac­ks, shop­pers, weekend bags, bicy­cle and lap­top bags. But also towels and soc­ks made of plas­tic fished from the sea, lap­top pro­tec­ti­on covers, cosme­tic bags and felt underlays. 

be the fibre is an ini­ti­ati­ve of We Make Hope, a non-pro­fit orga­ni­sa­ti­on that sup­ports deve­lop­ment pro­jec­ts. The reso­ur­ces for this deve­lop­ment aid are mainly obta­ined by col­lec­ting clot­hes. 

Ship­ping col­lec­ted texti­les to Afri­can coun­tri­es har­ms the local eco­nomy and cre­ates tons of was­te. The che­ap texti­les are unfa­ir com­pe­ti­ti­on for local desig­ners and tailors. In addi­ti­on, the unu­sed scraps of clot­hing often end up in lan­d­fil­ls afterwar­ds. That’s why We Make Hope pre­fers to invest in edu­ca­ti­on, heal­th and a sus­ta­ina­ble soci­ety. The pro­ce­eds of the be the fibre pro­duc­ts the­re­fo­re go to a good cause, in con­trast to other texti­le col­lec­ti­on companies.